Ivan Zajc (1832-1914) opera: Nikola Subic Zrinjski

[Alan Howe]

Now that's obscure! Forthcoming from cpo:
https://www.jpc.de/jpcng/cpo/detail/-/art/ivan-zajc-nikola-subic-zrinski/hnum/9729878

Here's an excerpt with the magnificent bass, Robert Kolar, who features on the recording:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGvUlaaV5xg

[Mark Thomas]

There are at least a couple of videos of different performances of the opera available on YouTube.

[scarpia]

I just got a cheap used copy at a shop in Montreal. Good late romantic work. Apparently there is a ballet sequence that was cut from this performance. At least that's what the reviewer on Amazon says. It looks like he knows a lot. I looked up Ivan Zajc and can't find much. Wii says this :

Zajc was an exceptionally prolific composer as evidenced by almost 1000 works, from Op. 234 to Op. 1202, produced during his time in Zagreb. Included in this number are Mislav (1870), Ban Leget (1872), his masterpiece Nikola Šubić Zrinski (1876), and Lizinka (1878), in addition to operettas, musical comedies, cantatas, songs and choral compositions, concerti, chamber music, and many other works.

His Symphony is on youtube and it's not bad. Croatian Radio-Television Symphony Orchestra with
Robert Homen, conductor. Not the best sounding band I've heard though.

[Ilja]

I've always rated Zajc as one of those composers of historical significance but perhaps not with the most original voice. And having listened to a fair number of his works, let's say I can understand how he got to such a large body of works. It all does sound rather the same.